kraft



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

G. W. KRAFT. WASHING AND RUBBING APPARATUS.

No. 455,567. Patented July 7, 189.1.

Inven or,

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- 2 Sheets-Sheet 2. I I G. W. KRAFT. WASHING AND RUBBING APPARATUS.

' $55,567. .Patented July 7, 1891.

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GEoRe WILHELMV'KRAFT, OF'DRESDEN, GERMANY.

I WASHING AND RUBBING APPARATUS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 455,567, dated July '7, 1891.

Application filed Ap 19, 1889. Serial No. 307,714. (No model.) Patented in France October 17, 1887.N0. 186,434; in England November 28, 1887, No. 16,334, and in Austria-Hungary, April 22, 1888;

T0 ail whom it may concern.-

'This apparatus consists, mainly, of a bentstick provided at one end with a handle and being inserted at the other end into the hole or recess of a carrier, which shall receive a rubbing-pad and which may also receive a sponge, both parts, the pad as well as the sponge, being arranged for easy'fitting and quick removal on and from the carrier. By the combination of these parts an apparatus is provided or furnished with which a person may easily and in an effective manner wash and rub his own back. new the rubbing operation, it is ofsome importance at which angle the stick m is bent for the position of the rubbing-pad relatively to the surface of the back to be rubbed, and I have found that a curvature beyond forty-five degrees from the prolonged surface of the carrier which carries the rubbingpad, or the sponge, or both, is preferably suited, in order to exert the necessary pressure bythe rubbing-pad against the human backby means of straight motion .of the apparatus in the line of the handle.

It is a very essential requirement in all this sort of apparatus that those parts which require moistening or wetting are so fitted to the carrier that they may during the operation from time to time be removed and fitted on again and after the operation be removed for being squeezed and hung up for drying. This requirement is met in the present invention for the rubbing-pad, as well'as for the sponge, in a most efficient manner, as will hereinafter be explained.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure l is a side elevation of a washing and rubbing apparatus embodying my improvement, the pad being removed. Fig. 2 is a side View of the pad removed. Fig. 3 is a side view, the pad being in place, Fig. 4 is a side view with the pad and sponge in place. Fig. 5 1s a rear view showing the sponge removed. Fig. 6 is a similar view showing the sponge in place. Fig. 7 is an enlarged view in detail of the carrier, showing the entrance to the thread-shaped recess.

In the example of my improvement shown iii-Figs. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 the pad for rubbing purpose consists of three partsnamely, of a cap a of textile fabric, provided at its rim be drawn in or narrowed, the body or filling c of any suitable material within the cap, and a layer '61 within the cap covering the body or filling'c. As the material for these three parts I prefer, however, to employ lufifa, this water in an advantageous manner and offering always a rubbing-surface. tion or arrangement of these three parts offers the possibility of easy and quick fitting upon For this. purpose the rim of the round or oval shaped carrier 6 is provided with a threadshaped recess h. The entrance from the face of the carrier to the thread-shaped recess it formed in the rim of the carrier is made by cutting away in an oblique direction, as shown at h, the outer wall of the recess. If the carrier with this threadedrim is inserted partly into the hollow part of cap a between the drawing-hem and the layer cl, and then the cap and both parts are well united for use. For removing the pad from time to time during operation (in order to wet it for further purposes) and after the operation, the parts are easily disconnected in the reverse way.

In order to use the apparatus as a washing device, a sponge 2' may be applied to the carrier 6 either on the back side of this carrier, so that the pad and sponge are both fixed to said carrier, or the sponge may be fixed on the carrier instead of the pad.

In nearly all modes of fixing or fitting sponges to handles, carriers, or other rigid bodies in a manner to allow of the ready removal of the sponge from such rigid bodies with a drawing-hem b, by which said rim may material resisting the influence of soap and or to the carrier 6 and removal therefrom.-

The composipad or the carrier is turned once or partly around, the carrier-rim is surrounded by the it was necessary to use screws, nuts, strips, or other devices of hard material, which prove to be inconvenient in combination with the soft surface of a sponge; or other devices for fastening sponges have been proposed, which,

however, did not allow of the ready removal of the sponge, which is necessary during and after the washing operation, in order to squeeze it out, to wet it again, and finally to hang it up for drying.

The method of fixing the sponge according to the present invention consists in the use of a loop fixed to the carrier in a special manner hereinafter described. For this loop I preferably use a string of good quality impregnated by wax, oil, or some other fatty matter, so as to protectit against the influence of water for some time. The loop f is with one end fixed to the carrier 6 by inserting the string through a hole and securing it therein by a knot in the string. The other end of the string is also drawn through a hole at the opposite end of the carrier e, and this end of the string is provided with a pearl or other button like article It. By this arrangement a loop'is formed into which the sponge of any desirable size and form may be inserted, whereafter the string at its free end (at which the pearl is) is pulled and cramped or squeezed into a slot l of conical shape, provided at a proper place in the carrier 6. The sponge is thereby kept tight to the carrier, and its middle part is held in such manner that the holding device does not come in contact with the human body during use. In freeing the one end of the string out of the slot Z the loop is loosened and the sponge may readily be re- 7 moved. The loop is arranged so as to keep the sponge either on the front face or at the back face of the carrier 6, thereby enabling the apparatus to be used simply as a washing apparatus, or with the rubbing-pad only as a rubbing apparatus, or with both pad and sponge simultaneously as a Washing and rubbing apparatus. In the latter case, if both parts are fixed to the carrier, the stick may be turned at will for one hundred and eighty degrees, in order to bring the part, sponge, or pad successively into the proper position for use.

I claim The herein-described Washing and rubbing device, comprising a curved handle, a carrier adapted to be secured to the handle, a rubbing-pad, and a sponge ,'the said rubbing-pad being provided with a hollow space upon one side, surrounded by a contracted rim, and the carrier being provided with a threadshaped recess on its rim, the hollow space and contracted rim on the pad being so constructed with respect to the thread-shaped recess on the carrier that the pad may be turned on and off the carrier at pleasure, substantially as set forth.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my invention I have signed my name in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

GEORG VVILHELM KRAFT.

Witnesses:

KARL AUGUST LINGNER, CARL HARNETS. 

